Campinas

Introduction

Campinas is a city in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. According to the 2010 Census, the city's population is 1,080,999, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian city and the third most populous municipality in São Paulo state. The city's metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Campinas, contains twenty municipalities with a total population of 2,976,433 people.

Neighbourhoods

• The main district of Campinas contains two high-rise areas: Downtown, the oldest part of the city and main shopping area and transport hub, and just next to it, Cambuí, an affluent neighborhood with several restaurants, bars and hotels. The rest of the main district is mostly composed of low-rise suburbs of different social profiles, with points of interest relatively spread.
• Sousas and Joaquim Egídio, adjacent to each other, offer lots of nature and a charming historic center. Several gated communities have also poped up in this area.
• Barão Geraldo is the district that contains UNICAMP, plus several companies and research centers. It is basically a collection of calm suburbs, but with good infrastructure of commerce and services, and a substantial number of restaurants and bars.
• Nova Aparecida is a more industrial/suburban district and should not be of interest to a visitor.

Sights and Activities

• Catedral Metropolitana de Campinas (Campinas Metropolitan Cathedral, Catedral Nossa Senhora da Conceição), Praça José Bonifacio - Centro, ☎ +55 19 3231-2085. Inaugurated in 1883, after more than 70 years of construction. It was finished by the famous local architect Ramos de Azevedo, wWith façade in Neoclassic style, and interiors in Baroque style. It is unique among churches in Brazil, by virtue of being entirely sculpted and carved in dark jacaranda wood.

Weather

The city lies in a transition region between the tropical climates to the north and subtropical climates to the south, with many sources classifying it as having a humid subtropical climate, but others giving for it a tropical wet and dry climate. If it were not for the moderating effects of the city's altitude its climate would be truly tropical.

Winters are generally dry and mild (rarely too cold), and summers rainy with warm to hot temperatures. The warmest month is February, with an average temperature of 24 °C, an average maximum of 29.1 °C and average minimum of 19.0 °C. The coldest month, July, sees respective temperatures of 17.8 °C, and 24.2 °C and 11.4 °C average maximum and minimum. Fall and spring are transitional seasons.

The average annual rainfall is 1424mm and the driest month in August, when there is only 23 mm. In January, the rainiest month, the average is 280.3 mm. In recent years, however, the hot, dry days during the winter have been increasingly frequent, often surpassing 30 °C, especially between July and September. In August 2010, for example, the rainfall in Campinas was only 0 mm. During the dry season and long dry spells in the middle of the rainy season are also common records of fires in the hills and thickets, especially in rural areas of the city, which contributes to deforestation and the release of pollutants into the atmosphere, further worsening air quality. The lowest temperature recorded in the city was -1.5 °C on June 25, 1918.

The wet season is from mid-October to mid-April, with heavier rains particularly in December, January, February and early March, and the dry season is from mid-May to mid-September. Average rainfall is 24 mm in August and 268 mm in January. Average humidity ranges from 37% (August) to 56% (January).

Getting There

By Plane

Campinas Viracopos International Airport is located 18 kilometres southwest of Campinas downtown and 100 kilometres northwest of the city of Sao Paulo (city). They are connected by the Bandeirantes-Anhanguera Highway. This airport is the main hub of Azul Linhas Aereas. Azul has flights to different cities of Brazil and international flights to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Lisbon.
Avianca Brasil, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes and Latam Brasil have flights to and from Campinas.

By Train

Currently, the only passenger train operating in Campinas is the weekend touristic ride to and from Jaguariúna. At some point in the future, Campinas is expected to be linked by high speed train to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and by commuter train to São Paulo and Jundiaí.

By Car

• From São Paulo, via the SP-330 Anhangüera or SP-348 Bandeirantes highways.
• From Vale do Paraíba, via SP-65,Dom Pedro I highway.
• From the Macro region of Mogi-guaçu, via SP-340, Adhemar de Barros Highway.
• From South (Valinhos and Vinhedo), via SP-91 (Campinas - Valinhos)
• From the Macro region of Sorocaba, via SP-75, Santos Dumont Highway)
• From the Monte-mor, via SP-101 (Campinas - Monte-mor)
• From Valinhos, via SP-83, Anel Viário Magalhães Teixeira
• From Indaiatuba, via SP-73, Lix da Cunha Highway (access for the Royal Palm Plaza)
• From Morungaba, via SP-81, Estrada das Cabras
• From Vinhedo, via SP-324, Miguel Melhado Campos Highway
• From Paulínia/Arthur Nogueira, via SP-332, General Milton Tavares de Souza Highway

By Bus

Buses to Campinas arrive at Terminal Multimodal Ramos de Azevedo (Rua Dr. Pereira Lima - Centro), in (Downtown). Bus tickets can even be reserved and purchased by Internet for the main bus companies. You would need to check on the bus station which company serves to a certain destination in particular.

Buses from São Paulo are however quite frequent (4-5 departures per hour) and reserving in advance is seldom necessary. The two companies that operate buses from São Paulo are Viação Cometa [3] and Lirabus [4] . The ticket costs R$25 and the trip takes about 1:20 hour (often more because of traffic in São Paulo).

However, do not use such buses if you just want to get to the Viracopos airport (there are buses from São Paulo that go directly to the airport).

Getting Around

By Car

If driving a car, be aware that some avenues have been converted to one-way streets to form a ring around downtown. Sometimes it can be tricky to find your way back and be careful not to get into the wrong way on one of those avenues.

After 10:00pm until 6:00am, some traffic lights are turned off and just blink yellow. Don't be scared, this is not effect of a Martian invasion. For safety reasons, you are not supposed to be stopped at red lights late at night.

Be aware, however, that during normal hours red lights and speed are enforced by cameras everywhere in the city, so stick to the speed limits and don't cross red lights.

By Public Transport

Despite being a city with more than 1 million inhabitants, Campinas does not have any mass rapid transit system, although a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is under implementation. Buses are hence the only option of public transport; check the EMDEC company website for routes and itineraries. As with most large Brazilian cities, buses are confusing, and can be overcrowded and slow (as they often get stuck in traffic), but they are relatively frequent and reach practically everywhere.

Although it is not easy to find where are the bus stops and which bus to catch, people on the street will be glad to help if they can understand you. There are several main bus terminals, where you can transfer from one line into another. Some urban buses even go to neighbor cities as Jaguariúna and Paulínia.

Campinas has adopted a prepaid smartcard for paying buses, the Bilhete Único, that allows you to take multiple buses in a 2-hour period paying only a single tariff. A visitor can obtain a Bilhete Único for free in the main bus terminals, by bringing an identiy document.

By Foot

Downtown Campinas, containing most of the city's shopping and historical buildings, is a relatively large area but still easier to be explored on foot, given the large amount of traffic. The center of Sousas/Joaquim Egídio is also an excellent area to walk.

Other areas of Campinas don't offer much in terms of sightseeing, but calm, green suburbs like Parque Taquaral, Nova Campinas, and Cidade Universitária (in Barão Geraldo), can offer a nice leisurely stroll.

By Bike

Campinas has a very limited network of cycleways; there is for instance one that links the center of the Barão Geraldo district with the UNICAMP, and another surrounding Parque Portugal. It is better to cycle in calmer suburbs, with small amount of traffic. Cycling is a popular means of transport for the students of UNICAMP.

Eat

While, like most of the state, Campinas has the fairly typical paulistano range of Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and standard Brazilian food, it doesn't have anything much that might be called campineiro food. The two most notable things might be the local penchant for arugula salad (salada de rúcula) and the local lancherias' habit of serving their sandwiches cut into bite size pieces, dubbed the "angel-mouth cut" (corte boca-de-anjo). Among desserts, you should not miss the torta holandesa (Dutch pie) which, despite its name, was invented in Campinas.

Drink

While in terms of cultural options, Campinas is not quite what you expect from a metropolis, its nightlife will surely not disappoint you. Cambuí is the "city center" of bohemian life, but good bars can be found everywhere, Barão Geraldo including. Campinas' clubs, mostly contained in the affluent northern and eastern suburbs, attract crowds from the entire region. The musical scene is dominated by sertanejo (Brazilian country music) and electronic music, although there are options for all tastes, including MPB and rock'n'roll.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes (Lan houses) are increasingly common, and even small towns often have at least one spot with more or less decent connections.
An increasing number of hotels, airports and shopping malls also offer hotspots for Wi-Fi with your laptop computer or of course smartphone. Sometimes it is free, sometimes you need to register and there is a time limite and sometimes you need to pay a small amount for (day) use.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

The country calling code to Brazil is: 55. To make an international call from , the code is: 0014. All cities use the following emergency numbers: 190 (police), 192 (medical) and 193 (fire department). However, if you dial 911 or 112 while in Brazil, you will be redirected to the police.
Brazil uses two-digit area codes, and phone numbers are eight digits long. Numbers beginning with digits 2 to 5 are land lines, while eight-digit numbers beginning with digits 6 to 9 are mobile phones.

Public payphones use disposable prepaid cards, which come with 20, 40, 60 or 75 credits. The discount for buying cards with larger denominations is marginal. Phone booths are nearly everywhere, and all cards can be used in all booths, regardless of the owner phone company. Cards can be bought from many small shops, and almost all news agents sell them.

Brazil has 4 national mobile operators: Vivo (Telefónica Group), Claro (Telmex/América Móvil Group), OI and TIM (Telecom Italia Group), all of them running GSM and HSDPA/HSPA+ networks. Pay-as-you-go (pré-pago) SIM cards for GSM phones are widely available in places like newsstands, drugstores, supermarkets, retail shops, etc.

Post

Correios is the national postal service of Brazil. It is a government run postal service and overseen by the Brazilian Ministry of Communications. Post offices are generally open from Monday to Friday from 09:00am to 5:00pm, although post offices located in shopping malls have their own opening hours, usually from 10:00am to 10:00pm. There are no set opening hours at weekends and as post office owners can choose when to open and close. More and more post offices are open until 1:00pm on Saturdays though. You can check things at the nearest post office.

Sending postcards, letters and parcels is a rather straightforward process and services are reliable, though not overly fast when sending post internationally, mostly taking about a week to the USA and Europe, and there is a track-and-trace service for this as well. Domestically, there are both next day as well as more expensive same day delivery options. Stamps are available at post offices, as well as some kiosks or other places where they sell postcards.

For sending packages internationally, you can also used competitively priced private companies like TNT, UPS or DHL. They are generally much quicker and not much more expensive.

External Links

• Official Website